Establishing Franchesca's Guinness World Record

Betty says,

In early August, 2014, I received an e-mail from the Guinness World Records office in UK that said, "... our editor is extremely excited about you, and I am very much hoping you would be interested in working with us..."   "One of the titles we are looking to fill is for 'Longest fur on a rabbit'".

After several exchanges of e-mails, I learned about the procedures from reading a lengthy document of rules.   Among a whole lot of hard-to-understand material, the main points of this challenge are:

(a) to cut 10 strands of my rabbit's wool to be measured, the minimum requirement is 9 inches,

(b) to have two eyewitnesses during the measurement,

(c) to have a veterinarian or an official agent to perform the measurement. 

I would not agree to the cutting of 10 strands of wool as Franchesca was still being shown, I'd rather show her than making an attempt for a record.    After much discussion, it was agreed that the measurement could be done with the wool on her body.    It was required to videotape the entire process, and also required to have still photos of the 10 measurements. 

On August 17, 2014, I prepare Franchesca for the Guinness world record challenge.



The "crew" for the record challenge, from left to right are Jeannie McDevitt, Kathi Groves, Betty Chu and Dr. Pete Keesling.   The videographer/photographer is Betty's wonderful hubby Albert.

 



Dr. Pete starts the measurement of Franchesca's wool.

This is the first recorded measurement, 33.5 cm.





This is the 10th recorded measurement, 41.5 cm. 
In between there are 8 more recorded measurements.   The average of the 10 measurements is 36.5 cm (14.37 inches).



Dr. Pete examines Franchesca to give an assessment of her health.

Here is another shot of Dr. Pete examining Franchesca, Kathi and Jeannie are in the background doing paper work.

Kathi on the left and Jeannie on the right filling out the witness statement.


It took several days to assemble the submission package that includes 13 pages of forms, a video and 12 photos.  Guinness organization's decision on the record could take up to six weeks.   What happens next?   We'll continue tomorrow.